SCOTUS and Marriage: What It Means

There are four key things to know following Wednesday's much-anticipated U.S. Supreme Court opinions on the hot-button issue of marriage.

Four takeaways from the U.S. Supreme Court's opinions on the Defense of Marriage Act and Proposition 8 on Wednesday:

1) If you needed any more confirmation you officially live in a pagan, post-Christian society you now have it. There will be no political solutions to what's happening to our civilization. At best politics will slow down the rate of decay rather than just manage it and/or accelerate it. Without revival this civilization (really all of Western Civilization) is toast and headed for the scrap-heap of history with our wanton immorality and liberty-crushing debt.

2) Yet another branch of American Government essentially just said it won't stand in your way - if it's really Hell that you want, we'll even validate you on the way there, and we're right behind you. If that doesn't break your heart, you just don't have one. If that doesn't motivate you to be bold for the Gospel, and live a life of integrity as vital to your witness, there will come a day when you see your Savior face-to-face that you will regret not doing so.

3) For the Christian nothing changes. We are commanded by Scripture to obey God and not man. Anybody claiming to be a Christian who acknowledges man's law over God's law is either not really a Christian or potentially guilty of blaspheming the Holy Spirit. In the days to come being a Christian in America will be simpler, but harder. It will be simpler because the lines will clearly be drawn as popular culture continues to attempt to kick Christianity to the curb. With the lines more clearly drawn we'll better understand who's really on our team and who's a poser. On the other hand, once those lines are drawn, we'll finally have to count the cost of being a believer as past eras of Christendom did, and even be willing to pay it when past generations of American Christians who were the majority worldview didn't have to.

4) The one piece of good news is that the U.S. Supreme Court did not have the chutzpah to step in and override a super-majority of U.S. State Constitutions who had already enshrined marriage, and it only attacked DOMA by a singular vote.

That means they were afraid of another Roe v. Wade type of judicial overreach that creates a national backlash. That also means they at least have some recognition of their jurisdictional limits-albeit nowhere close to what our Founding Fathers intended.

Moving forward, that also means that the tactic of federalizing the marriage issue is likely a loser. Frankly, federalizing almost any issue is a now a loser. We have fought 40 years to protect the sanctity of life in the U.S. Constitution to no avail. All we've done is raise a bunch of money with no fruit to show for it as the killing continues.

Instead, our best gains on the life issue have come at the state level, like what's happening in Texas right now. Similarly, our best gains on the marriage issue have come at the state level, as well. A super-majority of states still have marriage enshrined in their state constitutions, which not even our paganized judicial branch had the unmitigated gall to confront, so they kicked the can down the road instead.

I'm not arguing for a "Missouri Compromise" sellout solution to these types of issues that I have often criticized in the past. I agree no government has the right to do that which God says is wrong. Besides, we tried that with slavery and it was historical tragedy. I'm simply responding to the reality of the culture in my day. We are not the people we were in the mid-19th century when the slavery debate was raging. We can't even agree moral truths exist in our day, let alone which ones to obey.

Reality says the culture of Washington, D.C. and our federal government is corrupt to the core in every aspect. Attempting change there is like firing a spit ball at Hell.

We need to effect these changes at our local and state levels first, build a critical mass from there, and then attempt to take it to Washington, D.C. as a final step. Going to Washington, D.C. first is a waste of time and resources, like tilting at windmills. All it does is give gutless Republicans cover by letting them take political stands they know will never actually happen, thus fooling patriots into supporting them. We need action, not bloviating. Faith without works is dead, always has been and always will be.

Those of you who, for years, have been pointing this out to people like me have won the argument. A federal government that doesn't recognize the individual rights and jurisdictions of the states will not recognize the rights and jurisdictions of the individual, either.

Politicians need to know they are responsible for their actions no matter what some fraudulent human authority may claim, and that no matter how often Pontius Pilate wipes his hands of the matter, he still has blood on his hands for all of eternity.